Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is urging President Biden to replace Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas amid concern over the worsening crisis at the southern border.
“Mr. President, Secretary Mayorkas’ short tenure at DHS has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for border security, and for American safety and sovereignty,” Brnovich wrote to Biden in a letter first obtained by Fox News. “For this reason, I am requesting you replace him with a Secretary who is committed to the rule of law and enforcement of border policies that protect American communities.”
Brnovich’s plea came days after Mayorkas announced that border patrol agents apprehended over 212,000 undocumented migrants in July, breaking the 200,000 threshold for the first time in 21 years.
The figure represented a 13 percent increase over the month prior and a huge jump from the 40,929 migrants apprehended in July 2020.
Mayorkas said that despite the fact that almost half of the migrants encountered at the border were expelled under Title 42 public health protections, the situation is “one of the toughest challenges we face.”
“It is complicated, changing and involves vulnerable people at a time of a global pandemic,” he said.
However, that same day Mayorkas called the situation “unsustainable” in private comments to Border Patrol agents, according to audio obtained by Fox News.
“The other day I was in Mexico, and I said, if our border is our first line of defense, we’re going to lose and this is unsustainable,” Mayorkas said. “We can’t continue like this, our people in the field cant continue and our system isn’t built for it.”
Meanwhile, Brnovich called on the Biden administration to “enforce our laws” at the border.
“Every day under your administration, international cartels operate along our border with near impunity. They ferry migrants across the border to create distractions and gaps for our Border Patrol agents,” he wrote. “They smuggle illicit and deadly drugs to countless American communities to wreak havoc in unsuspecting school systems and families.”
“Americans are counting on your administration to enforce our laws and to stop the crisis at the border,” Brnovich added. “Please Mr. President. Do the right thing. Enforce our laws. Push back against the lawless cartel activity that is ripping apart communities along our border. Protect Americans and our country’s sovereignty. And surround yourself with men and women who will uphold the constitutional oaths of office.”
Brnovich is not the only Republican calling for Mayorkas’s ouster: Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) introduced articles of impeachment against the DHS secretary last week, while Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas called on Mayorkas to resign.